National Treasure (2004)

3 stars out of 4

The Bottom Line:

If you're capable of suspending disbelief you'll probably enjoy National Treasure, a preposterous film that manages to achieve a level of goofy fun through its contrived chases and series of events. January 1, 2009

Great Fun

'National Treasure' is a great adventure movie. It will keep viewers entertained from start to finish.

Although I was pretty late getting around to watching this film, I'm glad that I finally did. The action is nonstop. Part of this reminds me of 'Raiders of the Lost Ark'. It is similar in many respects. It also has a bit of the conspiracy feel of 'The Davinci Code'. The difference there is that the creators of this movie have not tried to pretend that it is anything but fiction unlike Dan Brown has done with TDC.

Nicholas Cage stars as Benjamin Franklin Gates whose family has ties back to the Revolutionary War Days. He is a believer in the family legend that he has some clues to a great treasure hidden by the Knights Templar. His quest in life is to find it.

The movie begins with him teaming up with a wealthy financier, Ian Howe (Sean Bean), who bankrolls the expedition. While pursuing clues in the Arctic, it becomes clear that the next one is contained on the back of the Declaration of Independence). Howe tells Gates that they will just have to swipe the Declaration. Gates balks at that and Howe turns on him.

At that point, it becomes a race as Gates attempts to get at the Declaration first to prevent Howe from misappropriating it. As one might imagine, an attempt to steal one of the most heavily guarded documents in history becomes an amazing challenge.

This is a flick that will keep on the edge of his/her seat. Loads of fun. I recommend it. December 28, 2008

About National Treasure DVD

I love this movie and am very happy that I recieved it as quickly as I did after ordering. December 22, 2008

neat for kids

Capitalizing on its Pirates of the Caribbean franchise, Disney tried for gold again with 2004's National Treasure. The intelligent and ambitious vehicle has not gone on to as much success as Pirates. Nevertheless, National Treasure is ideal for tweens interested in a thinking person's movie.

Acclaimed film veteran Christopher Plummer opens the tale, telling his young grandson Ben Gates how their family holds a vital clue in finding a vast treasure brought to the New World by the Knights Templar and protected by Free Masons from the British. Hidden and since lost from memory, Ben (Nicholas Cage) spends his adult life searching for the treasure, despite his father's (Jon Voight) bitter realization that the treasure is no more than a myth. After the discovery of a ship buried in the Artic Circle, Ben realizes the next clue found there suggests the treasure map is on the back of the Declaration of Independence.

To stop his former business partner Ian Howe (Sean Bean) from stealing and destroying the Declaration, Ben and his understudy Riley steal the Declaration first. After interfering with their plans, historian Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger) insists on coming along to ensure the protection of the invaluable document. With Ian and FBI investigator (Harvey Kietel) on their trail, the trio travels from Washington to Philadelphia and New York, gathering clues and searching for the treasure.

The premise of National Treasure is more intelligent that most, but it is ambitious and not fully executed. Trying to ride the Da Vinci Code tail, National Treasure resorts to basic exposition on American history with some fantastical turns tossed in along the way. The script is too broad and witty in the wrong places. Intellectual teens or history fans will no doubt dig Treasure, but for smarter adults, the movie doesn't hold many repeat viewings. The first time around, the Declaration heist, Philadelphia chase, and New York underground escape only go so far, and eventually, plot holes take center stage.

Often shown on broadcast and basic cable channels, National Treasure is only worth a second or third view for the cast. Justin Bartha as Riley has most of the amusing moments as the sarcastic sidekick. His deadpan style is offbeat and more refreshing than if the role was set up with a blatant laugh track. Likewise, Nicholas Cage is clearly having fun with the role. The Oscar winner and action star surely has his pick of material, so after dark pictures like his award winning turn in Leaving Las Vegas, and more recently Snake Eyes and 8mm, Cage delivers his historical wit with a lighthearted manner his fans will no doubt enjoy. Relative newcomer Diane Krueger (Troy) fits the bill as Doctor Chase.

All the secondary characters are under written and not properly showcased- the talented actors behind them do as much as they can within the script. Krueger is the pretty but brainy and clearly attracted to Ben, and Harvey Keital (Pulp Fiction) is the scary FBI agent who really isn't all that scary and in fact helpful stereotype. Villain veteran Sean Bean (Patriot Games, Goldeneye, Don't Say A Word) suffers greatly as the clichéd European unobstructed bad guy bent on acquiring the treasure simply because he can. Bean's sublte threats on Riley's sidekick are some of the better played scenes in the film.


Whether he was made up to look older or was unwell during filming, Jon Voight does not look well as Patrick Gates. Although the relationship between the father and son is a big part of National Treasure, the script does little to add to the oft-told scenario. Voight seems tired as the Old Dad-perhaps that is his award winning acting range, but for someone who was also once a respected Historian, Dad's left with clichéd phrases and glib remarks. The only thing I found rewarding in the Voight and Cage duo is that Cage was in Gone in Sixty Seconds with Voight's real life daughter Angelina Jolie and they, of course, aren't speaking to each other.

The scope of National Treasure is also a bit presumptuous for someone who has grown up in the areas in which the film takes place. Although the Declaration heist is very vague and undefined in most places, it also gives away real facts and science. Would the powers that be really let a movie show how to steal the Declaration of Independence? Likewise, the Philadelphia locales are taken somewhat out of context. The elaborate double chase through Philadelphia takes the audience on a course that isn't actually possible through the city. One notices these things after multiple viewings, but younger audiences will take the substitution of story for van chases and death defying avalanches, which in the end, was probably Disney's intention.


Yes, I've been harsh on National Treasure, and I don't expect you to see it ten times like I have, but I expected more from a big vehicle backed with a lot of money and starring Nicholas Cage and Sean Bean. Female fans will most definitely watch for them, but National Treasure is more for young conspiracy fans interested on loose coincidences and facts about Benjamin Franklin. History teachers might benefit from a viewing followed by a fact or fiction discussion and trip to Philadelphia, but I don't think that's what Disney had in mind when they launched their massive contests and treasure chances with the film's box office release.

National Treasure is available on DVD with some fun extras for the kids, and the film has been popular enough to warrant a sequel. National Treasure: Book of Secrets is currently filming. Focusing on the mysterious surrounding The Lincoln assassination, I don't see how it could top the original if it tries to stretch its tiny premise against the original's well, national attempts.

More intelligent than The Mummy, and most definitely better than The Scorpion King, National Treasure is the young man's Indiana Jones.

December 16, 2008

I finally let my curiosity get the best of me

National Treasure (Jon Turteltaub, 2004)

I had always remembered National Treasure as being something of a flop, so I was very confused last year when its sequel actually got a theatrical release. It was, of course, laughed out of theaters after only a few weeks, as I suspected given my memories of the reviews of the original, but it did convince me to sit down and actually watch the original to see if I'd missed anything. I didn't.

The ludicrous plot concerns Ben Gates (Nic Cage in yet another role he really had no business playing), a treasure hunter who decides that, like his grandfather (Christopher Plummer), he's going after the biggest treasure of them all: the wealth accumulated by those Founding Fathers who were members of the Illuminati. (Well, okay, they're not called the Illuminati in the movie, but everyone knows the tall tales about the pyramid on the dollar bill, etc., right?) Set up against Gates is an old partner of his, Ian Howe (Sean Bean), and the curator of the National Archive, Abigail Chase (Diane Kruger). She's not fond of him because, supposedly, one of the clues is on the back of the Declaration of Independence. (This isn't a spoiler because it was, after all, the subject of most of the movie's trailers.) Also against him is his own father (Jon Voight), who gave up all that treasure-hunting nonsense, and expected his kid to do the same. Ah, fathers, why do they never learn that the family business skips a generation? In any case, all this leads to a great number of car chases and near-falls into bottomless pits and the like as Gates and Howe race to get to the treasure first.

I get the feeling that Turteltaub (whose last really good movie--and this is arguable--was 1993's Cool Runnings) had a vision in his head of this being a kind of American-centered history lesson in the tradition of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure. After all, Gates and Howe hit all the big historical sites, and there's all sorts of great footage of the Liberty Bell, the National Archives, that sort of thing. But Bill and Ted's effectiveness, and its continuing charm, come from the history lessons being delivered with more than a smidgen of humor. And yes, the script here--adapted by Jim Kouf (Rush Hour) from his own story idea--does make some lame attempts at humor, but in general, especially during the action scenes, it takes itself way, way too seriously.

Having said all that, it's not an entirely awful movie. The action sequences are a lot of fun when they're not wallowing in action-sequence cliché (do we really need one more scene of someone hanging off the open back door of a van during a high-speed chase?), and the script does manage a few clever moments, but overall it's something to catch on late-night TV when you're suffering from insomnia. Nic Cage as an action hero is enough to put anyone to sleep. **

December 6, 2008

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